Tug of war between Yadavs is a battle of legacy

Lambasting PM Narendra Modi for fudging data on farmers’ arrears and reneging on his pre-poll promises to the masses, the Jat leader prophesied that the voters will teach the BJP a bitter lesson in the coming Assembly polls.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh said that the ongoing tug of war between ‘senior and junior’ Yadavs was, in fact, a battle of legacy and not merely a ‘pariwar ki ladai’ (intra-family discord).

Lambasting PM Narendra Modi for fudging data on farmers’ arrears and reneging on his pre-poll promises to the masses, the Jat leader prophesied that the voters will teach the BJP a bitter lesson in the coming Assembly polls.

Addressing media men at the Lucknow party headquarters on Thursday, Singh said that the SP leaders have a gut feeling that they were not going to form a government after the Assembly polls and so the two warring heads were vying for having its grip within the SP.

The RLD leader said that the SP has been boasting of development works it carried out in the state. “There is a Metro project and construction of some hundred kilometres long Agra Expressway to boast of. Corruption is at its peak and the ministers were more focused on their welfare than the public,’ lampooned Ajit Singh.

Refraining from commenting on SP leader Amar Singh, the RLD chief added that SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has already stated a lot about him. He said that there were so many CMs in the present government and the public is in utter confusion over the leadership in SP.

Singh claimed that he had little idea about Lohiya’s socialist philosophy but he was sure that the murky state of affairs within the SP, talks of insiders and outsiders, Gayatri Prajapati episode and others were definitely not part of the Samajwadi Vichardhara (socialist ideology).

About his probable political alliance with any party, Singh categorically said that his party had not spoken to any party for an alliance.

About Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing ‘Khat Sabhas’ to woo the farmers, the RLD chief said that even a political novice would know that RLD was the only outfit since its inception which fought for the farmers.

“We were the first party to take up cudgels for the farmers and we will continue to do so in future. Other parties only included the farmers’ issue in their manifesto eyeing their strong and decisive vote bank” he stressed.

On Kairana episode, Singh said that the issue was raised by BJP leader Hukum Singh first and since then it has been circulating in media circles. The Jat leader ridiculed the National Human Right Commission findings vindicating the BJP’s claim and said that the NHRC team spoke to only a handful few people and prepared the report.

“People leave for cities for earning and better life in the cities. This does not imply that they were fleeing their native place or engaging in a mass exodus. Recently a Ferozabad girl was killed in a Dhaka cafe. This does not mean that the family had left for Dhaka anticipating danger,” Singh claimed.